


Blood, Sweat, and Tears

by Thomas McQuinn (AtrydvonAschoen)



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-14
Updated: 2010-08-14
Packaged: 2017-10-11 03:11:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/107706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtrydvonAschoen/pseuds/Thomas%20McQuinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you sweat this much... no one can see you cry.<br/>(An Equius sadfic short based on a picture by northernVehemence.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood, Sweat, and Tears

**Author's Note:**

> Image:  
> http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/9595/dsc00586q.jpg  
> Safe for work, it's just a profile headshot of Equius. Saw it and couldn't get the idea out of my head.

The night was fast approaching, not that it changed much, out in the Veil. Things got a little colder, sure, but day and night meant nothing except abstracts; time. He only remembered so much about time because of Aradia's status as the Maid of Time.

He would get a chance to see her again soon. Very soon.

The battle that ended their session had wreaked havoc on her mechanical body; it was no longer functional, despite his best ongoing attempts at fixing it. No matter what he tried, he couldn't get that metal heart to beat... couldn't get those gentle eyes to open.

For once in his life, Equius' skill with machines had failed him, and he didn't know why. He took his anger out on boulders, rocks, every bit of detritus sitting around their laboratory on the asteroid; not a day passed when he couldn't at some point in the day be seen among the rubble, finding the largest possible rocks to slam his head into.

When there were no more boulders left, he would move on to other asteroids around them. It took but a single strong jump to propel him like a noble arrow to his target. Once the smaller asteroids were clear of debris, they too would be shattered, by the force of his exit.

When the sprites were banished from the session a week after their arrival in the veil, Aradia was no exception. Yet according to that yellow-blooded bastard Captor, she was still around; he could see her, and speak with her. She explained, through him, that she had been... 'un-prototyped'. Her soul was cast from the sprite as it dissipated. Only he could see her, through his Vision Twofold.

She was still there, yet Equius could not hold her. She could still speak, yet he could not hear. She could still see... yet he could not see her. She worked her knowledge and skill as the Maid of Time through Captor, directing him so that he could better allow the others to communicate with the humans.

She only ever came to Equius in dreams.

He would sleep, fitfully, and for a time, he could see her, hold her, kiss her tenderly; he was still as strong as ever, yet in his dreams, he could have her with him again. He was certain that it was indeed Aradia's spirit visiting him in his sleep; she loved him, after all... but every morning, he awoke alone. Her robot body sat in its' chair, unmoving, pristine, waiting as always.

He was too afraid to ask if she really was. Too proud to admit that maybe he was just unable to let go... to admit that maybe she had gone back to the one she loved before.

Another boulder crumbled underneath his fists. Even in the chill of the void, sweat dripped from every pore as he laboriously tore down rocks, one at a time. Nobody ever bothered to ask why. He wouldn't give them a straight answer anyway. They could never understand.

When you sweat that much...

...no one could see you cry.


End file.
